Recent comments

Well said, Miss Malaprop.

I think people should be given the choice between a Linden Home (consume, consume, consume) or first land (create, create, create). But who am I to tell the Linden family? I do not even happen to be a premium member, a paying customer yet so my word seems to mean very little. But I want to be able to create my own home, store or other place and not be forced into a shoebox looking exactly the same as the one next door.

Are creativity and individuality considered bad now, Ladies and Gentlemen?

To be completely honest, I have an existance in another place where I had been given a home from the beginning. But even there I could (for a small fee within the realm of said world, I have to admit) exchange it for land, free to decide myself what my homestead should look like (restrictions may and do apply).

I apologize for any mistreatment I have given the english language in advance as it is not my native language.

Excellent summarization. I agree with most of it, even though Jack Linden told a number of bald-faced lies during the openspace moneygrab...

This particular moneygrab is nothing more than trying to reduce expenses while maintaining the revenue stream. The fact that it's being presented so clumsily should surprise no one. It's LL's trademark.

They really are just a bunch of kids who put on a show in a barn and ended up with a broadway hit...

I do think you give the LL policy makers a little too much credit - in regards to their honesty - I personally support and defend the underpaid rank-and-file Lindens that work very hard to keep the world going. That kind of dedication is rare in this world, especially since they're just as mistreated by management as we are. It's too bad that LL just can't say "we aren't making enough with this product, we have to streamline it's use and change fees".

It's not that they lie so much that galls me, it's the insulting way that they do it...

@Lelani
I will make you a deal ... I will tell you what the SL land prices will be in a few months and you can tell me what RL stocks will do best in the next few months, okay? :) Believe me, you have the easier part of the foretelling: land prices fluctuate wildly, do not follow a set pattern of doing so, and can vary hugely from one seller to another within the same sim.

Right now people are literally giving land away. To give you an idea: I sold some land that a bought picked up for 7.5 lindens/m2 (which ppl regarded as a steal for that area). Later I re-bought it and eventually resold a piece of it before moving (both myself and the person I 'bought' from gave away most of our land to friends/neighbors). A bot did not buy my land until it went below 1 linden/m2. A of of land people just are abandoning now because they do not want to gamble a month's tier fee on someone *maybe* buying it for a pittance.

As a new builder, but fairly strange old person who only recently bought Mainland parcels for the first time, I'm in the "make it easier for new residents to find and manage a home" camp, but I'm not sure I care for this new development (smile) with Linden Homes. Perhaps I would have qualified for one even as an oldbie who'd never bought a parcel in more than 2 years, but I don't think I would have gone through the recent experiences I had when "build flu" and "land fever" finally struck.

I was inspired by the news that a family member is very seriously ill; that may not seem very inspiring, but in my mind it was coupled with the thought of other people I have lost, and also with items I associate with them that have either been lost or passed on to other people over the years. While waiting for news and results, my rudimentary attempts to make things like pots and bowls and silly drinks distracted me from worrying. Then one day a few weeks ago, I realized that I could try to replicate some of those things I've lost, and display or use them in a virtual home that represented a childhood home I haven't seen since I was a toddler.

I'm not sure that I would have made the Great Leap from consumer to creator if I'd been living in a generic home on a generic lot, because part of the process was the search for a parcel with the right possibilities for the price. It was not easy, and I lost a lot of sleep designing and re-designing my home in my head. If I simply had to accept something decent-ish for very little outlay, I don't think I would have gone through the process of conversion even now.

Still, I think it's a good idea for newer residents to have an easier entry into the lower reaches of the landed gentry - just not in such a spoon-fed fashion.

And I still might be in the market for more land... so I am wondering what will happen to land prices in the next few months.

I do not understand how you (and others) can make all of the following claims simultaneously:

1. Linden Homes are restrictive, inflexible, and undesirable.
2. After experiencing Linden Homes, people will want to move on to something similar.
3. Linden Homes are unfair competition to land rental agencies and/or estate owners.

Do these not contradict each other?

If people find Linden Homes so restrictive, surely that would make them want to move somewhere less restrictive, such as owning or renting land on the mainland or an estate?

Granted, some might wrongly assume that everywhere else is just as restrictive as Linden Homes, but even that provides land rentals and estate owners a powerful marketing hook: "Have more freedom in SL, rent from us!"

If point #1 were reversed, so that you were arguing that Linden Homes will be popular because most people would prefer a managed experience, then at least it would be consistent with point #2. But even then, surely land rentals and estate owners could offer a better managed experience than Linden Lab.

Unless you RP, how often do most people sleep and such in SL? My SL homes Why would anyone want a house anyway?

to date:

A huge open area (w small enclosed space for changing) with transparent walls, a grass ceiling, and no floor. Oh, and trees and rocks on the roof. Many people assumed it was a park until they stepped on the skylight and saw a tree below them.

A treehouse leading to a cavern. Eventually I walled in the area below the treehouse with semi-transparent walls but it was more an a playground for architectural ideas than anything else. Hidden doors and such. I think I spent more time in the underground tunnels than in the house part.

Yet another treehouse. As opposed to the last, I plan on keeping it that way and spend most of my time tweaking the area's look next door.

Since I have written a longer piece now, I would direct any would-be commenters to that: Mercantile Insanity, Longer Version

Daniel,

It isn't that I have read somewhere that Second Life is a Democracy.

Indeed it sometimes amuses me that many people believe they have any rights at all in Second Life. A quick glance at the TOS will end such delusions of equality.

I was merely pointing out that very fact, despite the Linden's claims of listening to blogs and such.

There really isn't a lot of point in complaining, we will either "rub the lotion on our skin" or "get the hose".

The only real way to make a corporation sit up and take notice is to stop consuming.

You suggest waiting to see for six months.

I suggest ceasing consumption for that time.

Take this next six months to re-evaluate how second life fits into ones life,
and if any corporate entity really should have such influence on any individual, virtual or otherwise.

( oh and by the way, those of us who might have supported the use of Second Life for Business "Enterprise" might be a little less enthused at the next board meeting )